https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_fA36aNcxg
"Eyes of a Child":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCVhZV8gDEw
"Whatever":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxThL_rkn9Q
Coincidences can be a wonderful thing. While the R&B quartet En Vogue recorded their THIRD album, group member Dawn Robinson decided to split, meaning that they were now a TRIO, and could call the 1997 recording EV3,a title that has THREE letters! Robinson wasn't missed, as this is a better record than their second album, 1992's 3-million-selling Funky Divas. (That's how long they went between releasing albums. I was grooving to Funky's "Free Your Mind" in high school, and by the time this was released in June '97, I had graduated college and was on my first journalism gig.) The biggest hit here was the powerful "Don't Let Go (Love)," which made #2 on its inclusion in the film Set It Off, but the followup, the #16 hit "Whatever" is even better with its "bung, bung, bung" backing vocals reminiscent of "Mr. Sandman," a song that I really must be a sucker for. The remaining group members Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones shine with their composition of the album's final two numbers, "Eyes of a Child" and "Does Anybody Hear Me." Both manage to be humanitarian without being preachy or soppy, and the trio's a cappella vocals on "Does Anybody" more than demonstrate thet they were getting along fine on their own. Saleswise, EV3 made #8 and sold 1 million copies, while "Don't Let Go" sold 1 mil as a single and "Whatever" moved 500,000 copies. The album has a bit too much filler in it - "Damn I Wanna Be Your Lover" is almost the same song as "Don't Let Go" - but there's a lot of worthwhile music within. Grade: B+ Choice cuts: "Does Anybody Hear Me":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_fA36aNcxg "Eyes of a Child": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCVhZV8gDEw "Whatever": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxThL_rkn9Q
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Walburgh's BlogMostly retro, mainly music, but generally whatever's on my mind. Archives
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